(a) Includes broadacre crops, hay and silage, nurseries, cut flowers and cultivated turf, fruit and nuts, and vegetables.(b) Total land area supplied by Geoscience Australia

KEY LAND USE POINTS

At 30 June 2015 there were 385 million hectares of agricultural land in Australia, a 5% reduction compared with the previous year.

Almost half of Australia's total land area was used for agriculture. Of all the states and territories, Queensland had the highest proportion of agricultural land, with 79% of the state used for agricultural production, followed by New South Wales with 72%.

FARM MANAGEMENT, year ended 30 June 2015

Aust.

NSW

Vic.

Qld

SA

WA

Tas.

NT

ACT

Average age of respondent (yrs)

57

58

58

56

55

57

57

52

57

Average time respondent involved in farming (yrs)

34

33

35

35

33

34

34

25

25

Male respondents (%)

77

76

79

71

81

81

81

66

81

Female respondents (%)

23

24

21

29

19

19

19

34

19

SOURCES OF FARM INCOME (%)

Agricultural production on holding

74

70

77

71

77

82

72

75

63

Grants, government transfers, relief funding

0

1

0

1

0

0

1

np

np

Off-farm employment/business activities

19

22

16

21

16

13

21

17

26

Other sources

5

6

5

5

5

4

5

5

7

Not stated

1

1

1

1

2

1

2

np

np

np not published

KEY FARM MANAGEMENT POINTS

In 2014-15, key attributes of Australian farm management were:

The number of male respondents greatly outweighed the number of female respondents, with 77% of respondents being male.

The average number of years respondents were involved in farming was 34. Of the states and territories, both Victoria and Queensland had the highest average at 35 years and both Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory with the lowest at 25 years.

The majority of business income for agricultural producers in 2014-15 was from agricultural production (74%), up from 70% in 2013-14.